Memories
by Alectrona-x
Summary: The story of the Marauders told from someone else's point of view. Iris Fawley is a pure blood witch, who has been anticipating going to Hogwarts all her life. When she gets there, however, she finds that Hogwarts life is much more chaotic than it seems...particularly when you have the Maurauders in your year!
1. Prologue Part 1

'I _still_ have no clue what House I'll be in.'

'I reckon you'll be a Gryffindor. You'd better be Gryffindor.'

'Why though? Why would I be a Gryffindor?'

'Because you're adventurous. You…. Well, anyway, Gryffindors are the best.'

'You're only saying that because you're one.'

Iris Fawley was sitting with her family in their rented Muggle car on their way to King's Cross station. Her brother Matthew had been Sorted into Gryffindor two years previously, and was convinced his sister would be one. Iris, however, wasn't too sure. She didn't think that any of the four Houses would be too bad, but she couldn't categorize herself into one.

True, she had been leaning towards Ravenclaw for the past few days, but now she wasn't too sure. Sure, she was creative, and loved reading and writing, but she was also slightly ambitious, and kind, and, as Matt had said, loved a good adventure.

They'd been having this kind of conversation every day for weeks. Their parents had been Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, so maybe Iris would be Hufflepuff, like her mother. No, she was always sneaking this and that out of the kitchen and reading those last few chapters after bedtime. So maybe Slytherin? Her brother was always saying her dark hair was a Slytherin trait, but Iris knew he wasn't being truthful.

That wasn't her only worry – like all first year students, she worried about fitting in. She only had two nearby best friends, Melissa and Eliza. But what if they were Sorted into different Houses to her? They'd definitely stay in touch but…. Iris mentally slapped herself awake. She was being silly. Of course they'd be in the same House. After all, they did everything together.

'Well, I think that you're a mix of all the Houses, and we'll never actually know until we get there,' said her mum from the front. 'Anyway, I'm not really interested in your House – you are who you are, after all. I want to know how you'll do in lessons.'

'Yeah. Charms sounds by far the best. Or Potions.'

'Oh, no, Potions is awful with Professor Slughorn.' Said Matthew. 'He's annoying, he has huge favouritism.'

'Really? Mum and Dad say it was a great subject. I guess they never had your teacher.'

This surprised Iris. Her dad had always loved Potions, and he said that a really nice teacher taught it. She'd always looked forwards to meeting her parents' teachers – maybe they remembered them – but now she thought about it, surely the would've retired by now.

Once they'd parked the car and gotten through the platform, Iris hugged goodbye to her parents and promised to write. She then began searching for her two best friends. She'd known Liza since she was just past one, and Mel joined them at the age of six. They had always laughed at how their families were so similar. Matthew was in the same year as Mel's sister, Lucile, and Liza's younger sister was the same age as Melissa's brother Zen.

She eventually spotted Liza's trademark curly, white-blonde hair, and they began looking for Melissa. She turned up just before the train left.

Mel was the fierce, adventurous one. She was always encouraging the other two to 'do this, or you'll regret in the later'. She was the only one Iris wasn't sure would be in the same house – unless they all turned out to be Gryffindors, Iris was fairly sure they'd be separated. It was funny, because everyone thought Iris and Melissa were related – though their only common feature was their blue eyes. Liza thought they did have kind of similar face shapes as well. Iris liked Mel's sense of humor – the kind of clever puns and sarcastic jokes that made you roll your eyes.

Liza, on the other hand was the creative, kind one who was very sarcastic once you got to know her. She was almost the reverse of the others, as she had blonde hair and brown eyes that complemented her heart-shaped face nicely. She was also quite short, whereas the others were just above average. Iris had known Liza since the age of one and, except for the babyish wailing fights over who would get the pink lollypop when they were toddlers, they had never really fought.

As the three friends boarded the scarlet train, waving frantically at their parents as it pulled away from the station, they once again discussed how awesome Hogwarts was, and generally the sort of thing that first years would talk about. They walked down the somewhat legendary train, excited and nervous at the same time; they couldn't seem to be able to find any compartments. Eventually they found one at the very end, empty all apart from someone's trunk up on the shelf.

"Should we just take this one?" asked Liza. "After all, there are no more compartments, and we are going to have to make friends, aren't we?"

Her point made, the others followed Liza into the compartment, and they began packing their luggage onto the rack. Just as the girls had sat down and were watching the station getting further and further away, the door slid open, and a girl with flaming red hair and beautiful emerald eyes stepped cautiously into the compartment.

"Hello, um… I left my stuff here – so can I sit with you? I can move if you want, but there's no more space," she said anxiously.

Mel jumped in. "No, no, don't worry! We'd love to have you here!" she said, shooting a meaningful look at her friends. Clearly Mel was keen to make friends.

As Iris watched the girl take a seat, she thought that she seemed quite nice – though there was an air about her that suggested a fiery side to this seemingly shy girl.

"So, er…what's your name?" said Liza apprehensively. Talk about awkward starts…

"I'm Lily Evans. I don't really know much about Hogwarts. I'm a Muggle-born," she added, in response to the inquisitive looks from the other three.

"Oh! Right," said Iris. "Well, I'm Iris Fawley. This is Melissa Burdin and Eliza Lloyd."

There were a few moments of silence in which Iris twirled her dark hair around her fingers, wondering desperately what to say. They ended up quizzing Lily on family and what it was like to live a Muggle's life. It turned out Muggles didn't really have too much of a hard life. Contrary to the beliefs of most wizards, Muggles had somehow found a way past most of the obvious problems that would occur without magic. Apparently they used something called electriky to power everything, and they had these things called telephones that let people talk with each other from the other side of the world! The things Muggles achieved without magic astounded Iris and Mel, though Liza was quite knowledgeable in the Muggle world. To be honest, the two purebloods were shocked they hadn't asked earlier – Liza had Muggle grandparents, after all.

Conversation only got better. They talked about their pets, wands, families, the Houses, they introduced Lily (who, they later discovered, wasn't really that shy at all) to all sorts of magical sweets, everything, really! As the four got to know each other, the landscape smoothly went from blocks of flats in the city to rolling fields. The new students grew excited as the hills slowly began to turn into tall, jagged mountains. After another hour of chatting and laughing, the train began to slow down. They had finally arrived.


	2. Prologue Part 2

As the train stopped, the compartment launched into frenzied excitement.

"I can't believe we're actually here! At Hogwarts!"

"Ugh, now I'm getting really nervous!"

"Where's my owl?"

As they joined the rush to get to the doors, Iris could hear someone who, from what she gathered from Matthew, must be Hagrid.

"Firs' years, firs' years this way!" He said, shepherding the first years towards the end of the platform. They drew closer, and Iris got a good look at him. She heard Lily gasp from behind her.

"He's huge! Surely he can't be human? Who is he?"

"Oh that's just Hagrid. My brother told me about him." Iris laughed, "He's really nice, apparently!"

Once Hargrid had gathered all the first years at the end of the platform, he explained that because this was their first year, they'd be going to the castle by boat. They took a short walk towards the lake, an enormous, black mass of water, and were herded into the boats. Fisrt went a quartet of particularly loud boys, next came a group of giggling girls, until eventually the four new friends clambered into one. Soon enough, the eager first years were told that they would be getting their first view of Hogwarts in a moment.

They rounded a corner, and the group all gasped in unison. Hogwarts was more than any of them could have dreamed of. The castle looked incredible. It was lit up against the darkened sky, and it had an atmosphere of pure magic. It had an assortment of different sized towers and cone-shaped roofs that made the castle even more impressive. The windows were small pinpricks of light that illuminated the walls, and the whole castle was mounted upon a jagged cliff. It was magnificent.

Iris was sure she must have spent at least five minutes just drinking in the view, before a small bump jolted her awake. The small armada of tiny rowing boats had arrived at the promenade. Iris hadn't realised they'd gotten that close— she thought they were much further away.

Several minutes later, Hagrid knocked on the grand double doors into the entrance hall. After a beat, a young, severe-looking witch wearing a long, dark green robe opened the door.

"Ah, good Hagrid, your journey was smooth, I presume?" She said.

"Yes Professor Mcgonagall, on'y young Peter here fell in, an' tha's much better than las' year." Hagrid replied, chuckling.

"Good. I shall inform the Headmaster of your arrival. Kindly await my return."

As soon as the professor shut the door behind her, the entrance hall erupted into conversation. Iris overheard the boy who fell in the lake, Peter, telling the other boys who were in his boat that apparently, "that McGonagall woman" was rather strict. In another conversation, some girls were stressing over their soon-to-be houses.

Lily, on the other hand, was talking to a boy with long, dark, greasy hair. Iris tried to catch what she was saying-

"- couldn't find you on the train—where were you?"

"I was..I was down the end with my friends."

Iris, who was unaware of any wizard friends Lily had made prior to today, was about to say something, when Professor McGonagall arrived.

"The sorting ceremony is about to begin. Please follow me, and stand in front of the sorting hat once we enter the hall. Now, during your time at Hogwarts, you will eat with your house, you will have lessons with your house, and will share a common room and dormitories with members of your house. Your allocated house will be like your family when you are at Hogwarts. The houses are thus; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Now if you'll follow me, the ceremony will begin in a moment."

As they walked down the isle in the great hall, the new students hardly had time to marvel at the sight before McGonagall began calling names. The hall was huge, the ceiling never-ending, and the carvings of the house mascots were immaculate and grand. The professor quickly broke their thoughts.

"Avery, Thomas."

A tall, dark haired boy to Iris's left stepped forwards. He walked up to a small, three-legged stool, and placed a ragged hat over his head, and waited.

Suddenly, the hat opened up, creating a mouth, and yelled-

"SLYTHERIN!"

The table closest to the entrance hall door exploded with cheers, and Avery sat down to join his housemates.

"Black, Sirius!"

This time it was one of the loud boys on the first boat; he went to Gryffindor, to the apparent surprise of everyone else.

After him came Mel. Iris was fairly sure she knew what was coming. Sure enough, after a few seconds, the hat yelled-

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The table furthest from the door erupted once more.

Then came Dirk Creswell, who became a Hufflepuff. After a couple of new Ravenclaws were sorted, and Lily, much to the excitement of Mel, became a Gryffindor, it was Iris's turn. Heart pounding, she stepped up towards the stool. As she turned, she managed to spot her brother, peering nervously up at her. This was it. The moment she'd been most looking forward to/ dreading all this time.

All of a sudden, McGonagall had placed the hat over her eyes, and the sorting hat was speaking in her ear.

"Ah, now…you're a smart one…a sharp mind, I see… A love for adventures as well…where do you belong…hm…plenty of kindness, I see...I think it has to be…"

"RAVENCLAW!"

At that last word, Iris felt a wave of relief wash over her. One which was immediately followed by one of panic- she was being separated from Mel! And her brother would be disappointed… Actually, though, Iris reasoned with herself, it was what she had expected. And what she'd wanted.

As she pushed herself off the stool, she smiled weakly at her brother, who was beaming at her and cheering despite her not being a Gryffindor. It seemed he really didn't mind that much what house she got, after all.

Iris sat next to a second year girl and watched the rest of the sorting. She watched Liza become a Ravenclaw, a sandy-haired boy called Remus Lupin become a Gryffindor, the boy lily was talking to get skated into Slytherin, and soon, the sorting was complete and Iris realised she couldn't be happier with her new house.

From what the older girls told her, the Ravenclaw common room was awesome! It has a high ceiling enchanted to look like the night sky, a tiny library filled with old books, tall, arched windows that have the best views of the grounds, and large, stuffed sofas and chaise lounges to read on.

Once Professor Mcgonagall had put away the sorting hat and stool, Professor Dumbledore stood up and waved for silence.

"Now, welcome to Hogwarts! The sorting has finished, and I hope you will all settle in nicely. As for now, however, tuck in!"

Without warning, the golden plates that had been empty before were filled to the brim with food— there was chicken, beef, pork, lamb, there were roast potatoes galore, mountains of peas and carrots, they had piles of golden-brown yorkshire puddings, tubs of apple sauce and mashed potato, everything one could possibly want in a roast dinner.

"I'm so glad I made Ravenclaw! It's a shame Mel and Lily didn't, though… But at least they're together." Liza said, filling her plate with food.

"Yes…well, I kind of knew Mel was going to be Gryffindor, and I knew I was more Ravenclaw than Gryffindor, so… I kind of expected it."

The Head Girl, who was a Ravenclaw, Phoebe Clearwater, came down to where all the first years were sat. She got them all to go round that table, saying their name, something they liked, and something about their family.

"Hi. I'm Max Temp, I am a muggleborn, and I love music."

"Ok…I'm Liza Lloyd, my family come from Appleby and I love fishing!"

"Hi, I'm Iris Fawley, I'm also from Appleby, and I love swimming, and owls."

"Hello, I'm Alexander Boot, I come from Godric's Hollow, and I love Quidditch."

"My name is Daphne Flint, I'm a pureblood, and I, weirdly, love muggle football!"

On it went, until they got to the end of the table, at which point everybody began talking and laughing with each other. _This is going to be fun_ , Iris thought.

Several yorkshire puddings and helpings of dessert later, the feast had ended, and Phoebe Clearwater, along with another prefect, was showing them up the winding staircase that led to their common room. That was the one thing wrong with the Ravenclaw common room; the incredibly long climb up the tower! When they got to the top, Phoebe explained that, to enter, you must knock the bronze eagle door knocker, and answer a riddle. So she knocked, and a calm, feminine voice rang out around the area.

"You will always find me in the past. I can be created in the present, But the future can never taint me. What am I?"

Phoebe turned, and asked if anyone knew. Daphne Flint stepped forwards, and said clearly, "History. I think the answer's history."

The others let out a loud "Aaah" of understanding, and the Head Girl nodded approvingly at Daphne, who was glowing with pride. As the group stepped curiously through the door, they each, in turn, marvelled at the room. It was just like the others had said— the high ceilings, the arched windows that really did give a brilliant view of the grounds. It was full of happy Ravenclaws, the older ones smiling down at the first years, reminiscing about their first day at Hogwarts. Phoebe showed them the way to their dormitories, and handed them their new timetables and a map of the school ("You'll need it. Trust me."), before reminding them to get up early, and bidding them goodnight.

Iris was sharing a dormitory with Liza, Daphne, a girl called Amelia Bones, and a muggleborn named Janet Renwick. They streamed in, put dibs on beds, (Iris got the one closest to the window) and unpacked.

For the next hour or so, the five got to know each other better. It was very interesting to hear each girls' story, as each was so different to her own. They talked about family, worried about classes, and ate all the extra sweets Janet had brought from the trolley lady. As the night grew darker, Iris reflected on her first evening at Hogwarts, and smiled to herself. It really was going to be a great year.


	3. Chapter 1: A sirius matter

"Come on Iris, wake up! We need to get going."

Iris groaned and rolled out of bed. Today was the first day of fifth year. Owl year. So much had changed in her life since that fateful day she'd been placed in Ravenclaw. For me thing, Iris thought as her brother appeared with a large crack, Matthew was now of age and could now apparate. It was as annoying as hell.

Another thing was that she had now made a solid friendship group; Lily, Liza and Mel were the closest, but here was also Marlene, Daphne, Alice, Janice, Amelia, and Dorcas. It had always been an odd feeling in first year when she was with so many friends, because before school, she had only ever had two friends (Liza and Mel, that is).

Iris had also got used to the general way of Hogwarts life. She was by now used to boarding there, and was this year planning on staying over the Christmas holidays, so as to keep Lily company. Lily had decided to stay this year because otherwise, as short put it she would have to endure eighteen days of that walrus look-alike Vernon."

Smiling at the thought of her friends, Iris speedily changed into her muggle clothes, and did one last check of her trunk. Telescope? Yep. Herbology equipment...Check. Charms books? Check. Potions ingredients and book? Check. Books for Transfiguration, DADA, and History of Magic? Got them. Ancient Studies equipment and books...Check. Care Of Magical Creatures books? They're there too. And finally, Ancient Runes book...Good.

Reassuring herself that she had everything, Iris shut her trunk, shooed her beautiful barred owl, Nyx, into her cage, and clambered downstairs to retrieve her new broomstick.

On the day her letter had arrived, Iris had been delighted to find that she had been made Quidditch Captain. As a seeker, and now Captain, she couldn't continue on her old Cleansweep 6! So, after having saved up for the whole of last year, she could now buy a new broom. Her parents would have to help her, of course, but they were more than happy to do so as a congratulations gift. So now, Iris was the proud owner of a Nimbus 1001. Ok, it wasn't entirely new, as there was a new Nimbus out, but it was far better than her old broomstick.

•

As the Fawleys arrived at Kings Cross Station, Iris and Matt began trying to spot their friends. Matt spotted his friend, Jason first, and after a rather hasty goodbye, he ran off to Platform 9 3/4. Iris carried on pushing her heavily laden with school things towards platforms 9 and 10.

"IRIS!" Someone shouted from behind her.

Iris quickly turned round, wondering who it was, until she spotted Marlene and Alice, walking up towards her, their trolleys looking as heavy as Iris's.

"Hi! Have you found the others yet?" She said.

"Well, we saw Mel, but then we lost her," said Alice, her round face glowing with happiness at the prospect of another Hogwarts Year.

"Okay. I'll just say goodbye to my parents, then I'll catch you up."

"Okay!" They chorused.

Iris walked back to her parents and told them that she'd found her friends, and they could leave now.

"Bye, Mum, Bye Dad."

"Okay, honey, goodbye. Remember to write." Her mum said.

"Don't forget to tell us how tryouts went!" Put in her dad. He was a seeker in his day, and was incredibly proud of her for getting Captain. To be frank, Iris had forgotten about tryouts. She souls begging thinking about that.

Being the Quidditch Team Captain put Iris as equal to the prefects. She was very happy when she heard that both Lily and Janice had been granted the position of prefects. Lily was working with Remus Lupin, and Janice would be working with Max. In Iris's opinion, they got the badge because of their ability to stay calm when faced with a problem, as well as their talent, obviously.

Thinking of seeing her other friends again, Iris departed form her parents and ran through the wall.

"That," Iris muttered, "will never feel normal."

Someone laughed from behind her, and she looked up and found Marlene and Alice, this time with Mel, Janice, and Liza. Lily still hadn't turned up, and Daphne lived in Scotland, anyway, so she didn't take the train.

The the six girls boarded the Hogwarts Express, chatting and laughing about their holidays. Apparently, Alice and Marlene had spent the last week together while Alice's parents were on a safari in Burundi. Janice, a girl with dark skin and hair, and beautiful green eyes to rival Lily's, had stayed home for most of the six weeks, though she had made a four day trip to the Lake District.

"It was beautiful...To be honest, it reminded me of the view from Hogwarts. All the mountains, the lake, the trees." She reminisced.

Mel, Liza, and Iris had also stayed at home bar one week where they went on a tour of the Hogwarts founder's birthplaces. They had gone to Godric's Hollow, where, to their dismay, they'd found James Potter and Sirius Black. They had, thankfully, not spotted the girls, though Liza was convinced that Sirius had winked at one of them. They also visited Huffleford, as it was a contender for the birthplace of Helga Hufflepuff. The Village certainly carried the Hufflepuff spirit, as everyone worked as a team, and the village was a very happy-looking place. For Slytherin they had visited various Wizarding settlements in the Fens, nobody in which, unfortunately, mentioned anything about Slytherin. For Ravenclaw, the four decided to visit Great Ravenshill, because that was the only obvious choice for her birthplace in Scotland.

They found their usual carriage at the end of the train, and settled down, only for Janice to suddenly point out she had to go to the prefect meeting.

"I hope you find Lily there. Has _anyone_ seen her?" asked Iris. The others murmured and shook their heads.

"Well, good luck anyway!" Alice chirped up. After thanking Alice, Janice turned and made her way over to the prefects carriage.

The carriage was quiet momentarily, before Melissa, clearly trying to fill the silence, said, smirking, "So Iris, happy about your new status? You know, as Quidditch Captain."

Following this was a long conversation, mainly between Iris, Marlene, Dorcas and Mel, (the others began talking amongst themselves about O. ) discussing quidditch and the cup. Iris hadn't told anyone about her new broom as of yet, because she'd only bought it two days before today, and saw no point in sending a letter. Marlene was rather jealous, as they'd both been using the same awful broom before, but now, Iris guessed she was annoyed that she was the only one with a Cleansweep six.

"Come on, Marley, you know you'll have bought a new broom by Christmas, cheer up!" Said Iris, in an attempt to make her happier.

"Sorry, I know I'm probably ruining your happiness right now, but," she snorted, "now I won't have anyone to complain with!" Then, realising how stupid it sounded, she began to laugh. She laughed until she was in one of her fits, when she just didn't. Stop.

"Oh, god. What started her off this time?" Said Liza.

"Honestly, this is the weirdest thing to start one of Marlene's fits. Well, maybe except that time it was literally Lily's face. Anyway, it was that she now doesn't have many one to complain about her broom with. She was laughing at how stupid it sounded," Dorcas replied wryly.

And so the train ride began. As the ride progressed, they discovered that Lily was just, in fact, late. According to Lily, her sister had pulled an angry fit over accompanying her family to king's cross, because there would be "too many FREAKS!". Iris and her friends rolled their eyes at yet another tale of Petunia's problem with wizardkind.

Halfway through their journey, just after the Atrolley lady had finished her visit, they were bestowed with the presence of the Maurauders. Ever since first year, the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw girls had encountered these four more times than they would have liked. Lily in particular, as James repeatedly asked her out and hexing her Slytherin friend, Snape. They were well-known by all as the school pranksters, and also the 'popular kids' of Hogwarts. They (not so much Remus) were constantly hexing people for the fun of it, and almost never studied, though to the frustration of everyone else, always seemed to ace their exams.

"For what do I owe the pleasure?" Inquired Lily as they came in, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"What?" Said Peter, confused.

"She means why are you here, you dolt," said Sirius, rolling his eyes.

"Oh."

Typical.

"Well go on, why are you here? If there's no reason, you might as well leave." Dorcas told them.

" Listen. " James began, cutting over Sirius. "I just wanted to let you know, the Slytherins are planning something. We don't know what, but we just wanted to warn you. C'mon Padfoot, we need to go find out what they're doing." He added in a low voice. They turned and followed him out into the corridor. As soon as the compartment door slid shut, Lily voiced everyone else's thoughts.

"What was that about?" She wondered.

Iris had been thinking the exact same thing. What on earth had caused all this siriusness? Usually it would be them who were planning something. Every year since second year the marauders had done a start-of-term prank during the feast. All the students had become quite used to it, and it was a point of conversation when no one knew what they were going to do. Perhaps this year they wouldn't do anything. Maybe their ideas were up, thought Iris.

In second year they decided to, through the post, give Dumbledore am anonymous howler that played a popular muggle rock song. The prank sort of backfired when Dumbledore said "Yes, that one is rather a favourite of mine..."

For the third year feast, they had told the house elves on the last day of second year to put a potion in the Slytherins cups. They said it was a concentrating concoction, when it was actually a babbling potion. The results were hilarious.

Last year, they told everyone that at exactly twenty-eight minutes into the feast, there would be some sort of explosion. Nobody could work out whether they were bluffing or not, so at twenty-five minutes in, about half of the school got up and 'went to the toilet' just in case.

While the other girls pondered the situation, Iris thought about how annoying it must be for Lily. None of the girls actually knew whether James did like Lily or not, but Iris thought he was being truthful when he said he loved her, and secretly shipped them- not that she'd let anyone, particularly Lily, know. They would think she'd gone mad! But they did sort of fit together, when Iris thought about it. She knew what James was really like, because of when she'd visited Godric's Hollow over the summer. When he wasn't around Lily, or hexing people for no reason other than to impress her, he was actually quite thoughtful, and seemed quite sirius about Lily when Iris had overheard him talking to Sirius about her. They were discussing how whatever James did, Lily never seemed to like him, let alone love him. He did really seem upset over it.

Still debating about James, Iris waited for the event the Marauders had warned them about. As they waited, the slight expectant tension was defused, and the girls resumed their conversations. Whatever the Slytherins were planning, thought Iris, the marauders must have found a way to stop it. Though Iris did wonder, and she realised that it was a bit foolish, what if the plan was for something bigger...


	4. Chapter 2 A New Friend

The Slytherin surprise event never arose, and it seemed the marauders had resumed their plotting. When the fifth years had eventually climbed into their carriages, Iris and Lily found that they were sharing theirs with none other than the Marauders.

"SERIOUSLY?! You guys?"

The marauders sniggered. Lily grimaced at the unintended pun and got in. The first minute was in silence before Lily, her curiosity getting the best of her, asked whether they found what the Slytherins were up to.

"Not exactly," replied Remus, "we found out that it was something to do with..." Remus fell silent at the look on his friends' faces. Iris was shocked. It was definitely unlike them to be all Sirius, but for James and Sirius to actually stop Remus boasting what they'd discovered... That was unnerving.

During the rest of the short carriage journey, the Slytherin's plans were not mentioned again, and the Marauders kept to themselves. When the fifth years pulled up at Hogwarts, Iris and, it seemed, Lily, had completely forgotten about the start-of-year prank.

"Oh, God. I forgot about that stupid prank _they_ always do at the feast. Let's hope we can stay out of it..." Lily said as they walked through those majestic double-doors tot the Great Hall.

Both the girls felt awful when they realised that they'd forgotten that Marlene's sister was getting sorted this year, but they quickly grew excited, and began guessing Poppy's house.

"Personally," Marlene mused, "I reckon she'll be a Hufflepuff, but she's convinced she'll be in Gryffindor like her big sister!"

The others all laughed. Iris didn't really know Poppy well, though from what she'd heard, Iris agreed with Marlene. Just as Iris was about to say so, the doors burst open, and Professor McGonagall walked briskly down the isle between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, with around fifty little eleven-year-olds trotting along in her wake, staring around in awe. Iris smiled when she saw Poppy, and saw Marlene giving her a small wink as she walked past.

The school watched as the line of first-years slowly degraded, until, when only around half of them were left, McGonagall called "McKinnon, Poppy" up to be sorted. Little Poppy walked fearfully up to the stool, eyeing it carefully, before sitting and placing the hat upon her head. The reaction from the hat was almost instant-

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw friends cheered loudly, despite Poppy getting Hufflepuff not their houses. Poppy hopped off the stool, somewhat relieved, though perhaps a little put out at not getting Gryffindor. She walked over to her table, where she was greeted warmly by the rest of the Hufflepuffs. She then grinned passed Iris at Marlene, who beamed back.

The sorting came to a close, and Janice got up, with Max, and walked down towards the first years. After a couple of minutes, Iris followed, leaving Liza and Daphne engrossed in a conversation on the O.W.L.s. As she reached the end of the table, she heard Max talking to the first years about what it was like to be a Ravenclaw.

"— a small library area, which helps when revising for exams, because you don't need to go all the way to the library every time you want to check a fact..."

The first years were rapt with attention, all apart from a little brown-haired boy at the front. Iris thought that Max must be either uncomfortable in comforting people, else very blind, so she scurried along to him, being careful not to divert the others' attention, and knelt down beside him.

"Hey," she whispered softly, "Why the long face?"

The glum-looking boy looked sadly at her, before glancing at the Slytherin table and giving a small, scared, shake of the head.

"Come on, you can tell me- what can I do?" Iris tried to encourage the boy.

"Anyway, if its your house you're worried about, you're fine! In Ravenclaw you'll soon make friends, and we are certainly not the snobs people think we are"

" Its... It's not like that..." He said hopelessly.

Iris thought for a moment, as he looked again at the Slytherins. "Is it- to do with your family?" Asked Iris gently. He slowly nodded and turned towards Iris, giving in.

"My family are..." He hesitated. " They're not the type of people that, uh, appreciate mud- I mean muggleborns. Sorry, they only ever call them... I mean, they never say muggle born. Only the- the rude one." He added apologetically.

Iris smiled at this boy who, quite clearly, disagreed with his family's views on muggles and muggleborns.

"They all said that I had to get Slytherin, and now I'm afraid they'll disown me or something. My brother is a sixth year, and a huge supporter of dark magic..." The boy said miserably.

"I'm sure they won't go quite so far so as to disown you! Anyway, tell them that they shouldn't hate you for being who you are and who they made you. Ravenclaw is the best. I promise, you won't get bullied or whatever here- hey, what's your name, anyway?" Iris suddenly realised she didn't know even this. " I'm Iris Fawley."

"Darius- Darius Lestrange."

Iris's eyes widened slightly. Darius wasn't kidding when he said his family were dark. The Lestranges were very dark, and were known to have took a rather sudden turn after Voldemort was at school with Emmet and Athene Lestrange. Darius watched her sadly.

"People always double-take when they hear that. I hate it. I love my family- well, my mum anyway- but I don't know whether they'll hate me for going against the Dark Arts, so I'm scared to..." He looked around at the Great Hall again. Janice and Max had gone back to their friends, and the other first years were deep in conversation.

"Look," said Iris, "I should probably go and eat now, but I promise I'll show you round and help you settle in, okay?" He nodded, somewhat happier than at the start. "Bye then!"

"Bye, Iris!"

Iris returned to her friends, and they almost immediately asked her about Darius.

"I just though he looked upset, so I asked what was wrong." She said.

"And?" Demanded Lily from the other table.

"Well," Iris replied in a low voice. " Apparently he's a Lestrange, but he doesn't agree with their pureblood mania, and they're going to be really upset with him. He says he loves his mother, but not his dad and brothers as much, and he's really sad."

The others stared down the table at this poor, poor boy. He was staring hopelessly at an angry Slytherin who, Iris thought must be his brother. It was only when Liza pointed out who it was that Iris remembered Argus Lestrange. He was the second child in the Leatrange family, a seventh year, and a fierce follower of the Arts. Their older brother, Rudolphus, had left school two years before Iris joined, and disappeared after he left school. There was a large roumer that him and his then-fiancée had gone off to join Voldemort.

Suddenly, Lestrange stood up and walked confidently to the Ravenclaw first-years. Iris began slowly getting up to help Darius out, but Lily beat her to it. They stood just within earshot, and listened into the confrontation.

"Darius. Father an I have discussed this, and I want you to know that I am very disappointed at you, and I know father will be too." His voice dropped to a harsh whisper. "Don't you know what an honour it would have been to have been sorted into Slytherin?"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't-"

"No! You could've helped it. But you decided to go to Ravenclaw. The nerd house- obsessed with creativity and art- ha! I guess you could've gone to Hufflepuff, with their damn niceties and fairness. They never understand the royalty of us pure bloods."

Iris and Lily, now joined by Mel, walked slowly up behind Darius.

"Stop." Lily said sharply. Argus faced her. "Stop trying to make your brother a person he's not. That's just-"

But before she could finish, the Great Hall erupted into chaos. There was food flying everywhere, the Gryffindors were all on their feet, launching handfuls of mashed potato and slapping people with chicken pieces. So this was what the marauders were planning. Ha!

"Okay." Lily said after recovering from the sudden outburst. "Let's do this. I want to get some pie in Potter's face. Maybe it'll minimise his ego a bit."

Iris laughed, and mentally braced herself to get mucky. "Ready?"

"Ready" Several voices called out from around her.

"FIRE AT WILL!" She bellowed, jumping up, and taking handfuls of baked beans. Iris launched them directly at Argus, and smirked when she saw the look of disgust on his face.

Then came a howl of outrage from James. It appeared that Lily had, indeed, "got some pie in Potter's face", and it wasn't just his face that had suffered; it was all over his hair and clothes, and there was a giant piece of pastry sliding down onto the floor. Lily, who, like the other Marauders, was shaking in silent fits of laughter, turned to Iris.

"I...enlarged... it as it was...it was... flying through... the...air" She gasped between bursts.

Iris snorted; James looked very determined to get revenge. He muttered something to Sirius, who sniggered, before turning round, and grabbing handfuls of everything in sight and smushing them together with some mash, and turning round with his huge foodball.

"Oy! Evans!" Lily turned round, grinning manically. Her face fell when she saw the thing under his arm. He grinned back and sent it soaring straight at Lily. She successfully dodged it (it subsequently hit an enthusiastic Hufflepuff in the back, causing him to fall flat on his face), and summoned one of the tables as a shield.

Iris and her friends helped Lily fight the marauders; Iris and Liza took on Remus, Lily, Dorcas and Alice fought James and another Gryffindor boy, Daphne and Janice took Peter, who was going for the traditional approach, and Mel, Amelia and Marlene went up against Sirius and Frank Longbottom.

The war raged on until curfew, as there were naturally unlimited supplies, and none of the teachers could control it- in fact, the teachers were actually helping their houses! Flitwick had charmed one of the tables to fly around and was high above the rest, sending things flying towards the others. McGonagall was putting up a fierce fight against Professor Slughorn, who had covered his robes in a sort of magical waterproof shield. Dumbledore was standing behind a shield, and was somehow still able to throw things at McGonagall and the other teachers.

All the while, James and Lily were throwing furiously at each other. As Iris watched (Remus had been temporarily stunned), she realised that it was probably the first time she'd ever seen Lily laughing with James.

"Eat slime, Potter!" Lily yelled as she watched the gravy boat slowly tip above his head. He screeched, and Lily turned to high-five Alice, who had apparently orchestrated the brutal attack.

Meanwhile, Remus had, once again been knocked down, this time due to a face-full of minced beef, and Iris and Liza had time to watch the others before they recovered. Watching Lily and James, Iris thought Lily did seem to be having rather a lot of fun, oddly. As she watched James, who was smiling non-stop, she thought maybe he really did love Lily...


	5. Chapter 4 Advice & A New Team

Iris awoke early after what she considered to be the most fun-filled and action-packed start of year feast she'd had. At first, she'd thought it was simply because of the noise from the wind outside, but then she noticed that Liza was awake too, her brown eyes shining in the dark.

"Liza!" She hissed. Liza turned to look. "How come you're awake? It's four in the morning!"

"Oh...I couldn't sleep." She said, though Iris, who had known Liza for almost fourteen years, knew that Liza was not a light sleeper. Deciding to let it go for now, Iris left Liza to ponder whatever she needed, and rolled back over and fell asleep.

 **(A/N: I know this seems kind of irrelevant, but it will be important!)**

Throughout the next week, Iris hardly saw Darius, though should was constantly worrying about his brother and how he was faring. She found it really odd how quickly she'd come to care for the boy, seeing as though she'd only known him for a few days. She guessed that it was his semi-tragic back story, and she just felt really sympathetic towards him.

She caught Liza up early twice more and was beginning to get suspicious. As much as Liza tried to hide it, she seemed sort of sad. Iris didn't think the others could tell, perhaps because they hadn't known her for as long, but every now and then, when she was alone with her friend, Iris thought she saw a glimpse of sadness in her eyes off hat never usually appeared.

As for the lessons, they were all the same, bar Defense Against The Dark Arts. As always, the teacher from their last year would not be teaching this year, this time due to 'suspicious circumstances'. Instead, they would be being taught by a woman named Professor Gilliford.

During the first lesson, the students got a rather striking impression of her. They had been chatting about the usual- holidays, O. , etc- when suddenly all the lights in the classroom switched off, and the curtains were magically drawn shut. The room went deadly silent, and the atmosphere was suddenly cold and eerie. A wave of mutterings went around the classroom. Luckily, the Gryffindors' battlefield instincts kicked in.

It was Marlene who was the first to speak. Iris heard her mutter to Daphne "Must be some kind of test the teacher set us..." Then, she felt a rippling breeze fly by, and heard several voices yell "Get Down!" "Down! Quickly!" So Iris, who was luckily a fast-thinker, cast a wide shield charm to protect her friends, while several people did the same thing behind her. The result was a series of shields, that would be much harder to break through.

Without warning, the curtains flew open again, and the lights turned back on. A voice sounded from the shadows, and a young woman appeared.

"Now that is interesting." She said.

She looked around at the students, quite a few of whom were gaping at her- to be frank, thought Iris, she is quite a sight. The woman had dark hair that flowed down just past her shoulders, and had a pale face with a square jaw. Instead if wearing the standard witch's robes, she wore a black tee-shirt with a red skull and cross-bones, and a dark red cloak.

"Well sit down then!" she said, "What're you waiting for?!"

The class hurriedly sat down, and began taking out their books and wands. Iris ended up next to Remus Lupin. She noticed he looked extremely worn-out. Iris wondered what those marauders had been doing all through the night.

"Right then. What just happened is a scenario that could occur whenever and wherever you are. For those of you who cast a shield charm, that shows good instincts, however it wouldn't help you much if you were up against a killing curse."

The class stared at her. Compared to their previous teachers, Professor Gilliford was very serious. During their first few lessons, the fifth years learnt about the Unforgivable Curses, and the history of dark magic. Apparently, Professor McGonagall didn't really agree with the fifth years being taught such darkness, for fear that it would give them 'ideas'.

On another note, on the second Monday of the school year, Iris noticed Darius sitting alone next to the chess boards in the common room, and sidled away from her friends to see him.

"Hi, Daruis. What you doing?"

He looked up at her, surprised. "Oh, nothing really..."

"And why is that? Don't you want to play...or practice magic?" Iris watched as he looked down at his hands sadly, looking like he didn't quite know what to say. Then, after a moment or so, he said in a small voice:

"I haven't really had the chance to make friends, and I've done all my homework already."

"Really? A nice, polite boy like you hasn't had the chance to make friends? Why not?"

Darius smiled weakly before answering. "Thanks for the compliments...but my friends all went to Slytherin, and I... I'm scared of what they'll say when they see me again."

"Hmm... Well, here's the great thing about being a Ravenclaw," Iris told him, "we're often very wise, so whenever you need help, particularly emotionally, someone will always have a great piece of advice for you. And I reckon you need to go and confront them - no, that's not the right word, you should just approach them, and perhaps apologize for avoiding them. They're still the same people, and if they do reject you, then maybe they aren't the right friends for you."

Darius was now looking slightly more confident, and when he smiled and thanked Iris, she felt that she had actually made a difference.

The first month of fifth year flew by without any real events. Iris had found that her brother had been right when he told her how difficult fifth year was - the teachers piled homework on them and the lessons were non-stop. The only reassurance for Iris was that all this work would go towards her O.W.L.s, though that didn't stop her from complaining along with her friends about it.

Iris was finding her new classes brilliant -she had Ancient Studies on Monday and Thursday afternoons, and was so far finding it intriguing. They learnt about the Ancient Egyptian tombs and the magic they used. They studied a scroll with encrypted spells.

In Ancient runes, the work was a bit tougher, Each week, they learnt how to recognise and translate a couple of runes, each of which were very complex in design.

Soon it was October, and Iris had decided to hold Quidditch trials on the first Saturday of the month. The team had been brilliant last year, and they came second only to Gryffindor and that blasted Potter, so Iris wanted to recreate that. The only problem was that the Keeper and one of the Chasers had now left school, so even if the rest of the team remained the same after tryouts, she knew she would have to have a few new people on the team.

The day of the tryouts came, and Iris hurried down to the Quidditch pitch at eight O'clock in the morning. She was greeted by a group of cold Ravenclaws.

"Alright." She began, standing in front of the group. "Today, as I'm sure you know we will be putting together a group for the quiddich team. As you also might know, there are four members of last year's team here today, " Iris smiled at her team members. She saw Daphne grinning at her from the back of the crowd, the two beaters, Percy and Jason smirking at each other, and the other chaser, an Irish girl called Mia Fisto.

"However," Iris continued, "that doesn't necessarily rule you out. As I am seeker, there will be not much point in trying out for that position, so if anyone here wanted seeker, just know that you will only be a reserve. Let's get down to business. Could you all please get into groups according to your uh, desired position, and we will set up a series of mini-games."

In general, it went very well. Nobody managed to out-do the four that had been in the team previously, though Iris got herself a new keeper, by name of Thomas Stock, and a young, third-year chaser, called William Solace, who had sunny blonde hair and was rather good for his age.

On Tuesday, after dinner, a notice was put up in the Ravenclaw common room;

 **QUIDDITCH TEAM FOR THE 1975 SCHOOL YEAR:**

 **Captain and Seeker:**

 **Iris Fawley**

Keeper:

Thomas Stock

Chasers:

Daphne Flint

Mia Fisto

William Solace

Beaters:

Percy Campbell

Jason Grace

 **Congratulations to all who got on the team.**

 **PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FIRST QUIDDITCH**

 **PRACTICE WILL BE AT 10:30 ON SATURDAY. PLEASE**

 **BRING YOUR BROOMSTICK AND YOU WILL BE**

 **PRESENTED WITH ROBES AT THE PRACTICE.**

When Saturday finally came around, Iris awoke to Daphne laughing as she squirted a blast of ice cold water at Iris's sleeping form.

"AAAAAARRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed, sitting bolt upright in her bed before recovering and throwing a hairbrush at her roommate. Daphne, however, barely reacted she was laughing so hard.

" _Assicco_ " Iris muttered, magically drying herself. "Why d'you do that?"

"I believe," Liza said dryly, "her reasoning was that its ten o'clock and you have quidditch in half an hour."

Iris's eyes widened. She leapt to her feet and, ignoring the laughing coming from around her, began fumbling around looking for her quidditch robes and got changed. Then, she took her broom in one hand, the seven lots of Ravenclaw quidditch robes in the other, and raced down to the Quidditch Pitch.

"Oh thank Merlin," She gasped "We're still five minutes early."

The girls set up for the practice, and shortly after they arrived, Thomas Stock turned up, and they fit and designed this robes. Then came Percy and Jason, whose robes simply needed renewing as they had been on the team for two years now. After them, the new chaser, William, arrived with Mia.

"Right, so uh here are your new robes," said Iris as she watched Daphne pass around the blue and bronze cloaks ,"you will all have to charm your name onto the back. It is actually a pretty simple spell. Just point at the area you want it to appear and say ' _scribittas Flint'_ or ' _scribittas Solace'_ etc."

They set to work, and after a couple of corrections they set out to practice.

The team's first practice went very well, and Iris felt she had a weight lifted off her shoulders - she'd successfully made her team.


End file.
